New Delhi, October 8 (APAC Media): India and Ghana have signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in agricultural research, education, technology transfer and commercialisation.
The agreement was signed between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, and the Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI), Accra. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa were present at the signing ceremony.
Tomato Research to Lead First Phase
The first phase of the partnership will focus on vegetable crop research, particularly tomato development. ICAR will support the scaling up of proven agricultural technologies and the introduction of suitable high-yielding tomato lines and varieties to help strengthen domestic tomato production in Ghana.
The collaboration has been facilitated by Arima Farms Ltd., Ghana, which has been recognised as the commercial partner to CSIR-CRI for specific research and commercialisation activities.
Focus on Tuber Crops and Post-Harvest Management
The partnership will also cover processing and value addition of cassava, yam and other tuber crops, along with technologies for cold storage, refrigerated transportation, sorting, grading and processing to address post-harvest losses.
The MoU also provides for the exchange of scientists, germplasm, breeding materials, scientific information and technical knowledge. A Joint Working Group comprising representatives of ICAR and CSIR-CRI will oversee implementation and periodically review the progress of the collaboration.
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